One concept from graduate school (political science) that has stuck with me is the benefit of cross-cutting cleavages, which has nothing to do with “wardrobe malfunctions.” (See Wikipedia for an explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-cutting_cleavage.)
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, however, has produced an analysis of its readership area, showing that there are plenty of “reinforcing cleavages,” or as we might call it outside of academic journals, polarization. Republicans and Democrats live in separate worlds. So do conservatives and liberals, whites and blacks, poor and white, and so forth. Pigeon-holing — or if you will, stereotyping — has become more and more accurate.
Here’s an introductory paragraph from the scene in Milwaukee:
Metropolitan Milwaukee is the most polarized part of a polarized state in a polarized nation. It combines in one political hothouse an unusual constellation of divisive forces: deep racial segregation; an intensely engaged and sometimes enraged electorate; and the Balkanizing effects of serving over the past decade and a half as one of the most fought-over pieces of political turf in America.
How did we get this way? There are plenty of possible explanations. I’ll just say this: As government grows larger and the value of political victory increases, expect more contentious battles.
Read the whole thing here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/democratic-republican-voters-worlds-apart-in-divided-wisconsin-b99249564z1-255883361.html?ipad=y